After the landings at Normandy the French Resistance came out of hiding to become the FFI ( French Forces of the Interior ), a sort of Militia army under the control of DeGaulle who were used to supplement regular French forces. As such they were as much a part of the liberation of France as the French Army itself. Of course the fact that the French Army doesn’t really get much recognition in 1/35 scale plastic form means that the FFI get recognised even less so. At least until this set came along a year or so ago.
This set from Masterbox gives us three male and one female member of the French Marquis along with a captured German officer and comes in the usual open ended box on a single dark yellow sprue. The quality of the mouldings and the finess of the detail has improved noticeably over earlier Masterbox kits which weren’t themselves that bad but often need a little cleanup. The moulding on this set however is excellent with very nice facial detail especially.
The figure of the FFI officer includes a nicely moulded tie and a holstered sidearm, he is shown holding a newspaper but none is included where a simple paper cutout would have been a nice touch. One figure comes with a Bren Gun with folded bipod and a satchel, another with a belt mounted pouch and a Sten gun which can be made up as either an early Mk. I with the wire frame or a later Mk. III with the “T” stock. This figure is shown about to remove the German officer’s pistol and is moulded with a very nice smile.
The female figure, who is carrying a French MAS 36 rifle, actually looks female and in true phallocentic fashion appears to be the officers secretary as she is shown carrying a briefcase while he reads. I think however this was just unfortunate posing as I believe the intent of the vignette is to show her holding the briefcase taken from the captured German officer while her colleague reads the contents. Her skirt is moulded as two separate parts giving very nice undercut detail. So much so in fact that you may want to paint on underwear.
The German officer is very well detailed including buttons on the pockets and insignia, medals and badges. The lower skirts of his tunic are moulded as separate parts giving a natural look and he comes with a holstered sidearm. Although the boxart shows his cap on the ground he doesn’t actually come with any headgear which is a shame as it would have been a nice touch.
The FFI female figure, officer figure and the figure with the Sten all come with nicely moulded FFI armbands on their left arms.
Assembly instructions and a painting guide are provided on the reverse of the box, though being in civilian clothes any colours would work.
This is a great little set that shouldn’t be writen off because of the few omisions such as the officer’s cap and the map/paper. It is a set that instantly inspires many little scenes from an ambushed Kubelwagen on a back road to the FFI receiving the surrender of German forces in Paris, and they would work equally well without the weapons just as everyday civilian figures.
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